Softball

CLASS 4A REGIONALS at Fort Gibson — Advancing to the Class 4A state tournament for the third straight year, the Fort Gibson Lady Tigers will wield the hot bat.

Led by Hayley Jaynes’ inside-the-park two-run home run, the Lady Tigers shut down the Poteau Lady Pirates 8-0 in the 4A regional final at the Fort Gibson diamond on Friday.

Winning pitcher Taylor Mills (7-2) struck out nine batters in pitching the complete-game six-inning no-hitter. Only three Poteau batters reached base.

But it was Fort Gibson’s hitting that the Lady Tigers (28-5) used to punch this ticket to next week’s state tournament in Oklahoma City.

“It was a good team effort,” coach Jerry Walker said. “We’re swinging the bat well.”

The Lady Tigers erupted for six third-inning runs. In the inning, Fort Gibson sent 10 batters to the plate as Brennan Miller and Mikki Stone each hit a two-run double.

Jaynes hit her home run in the third.

Poteau (24-18) eliminated Muldrow 4-1 earlier in the day Friday to advance to the finals against the Lady Tigers.

CLASS 4A REGIONALS at Berryhill — Playing at Berryhill, three errors doomed the Lady Hornets (19-7) as they were eliminated from the Class 4A regionals by Blanchard, 7-5.

The Lady Hornets tied the game at 1-1 in the second inning when Julie Tarkington hit a sacrifice fly scored losing pitcher Julana Shrum (9-4) after Shrum had tripled.

The three errors paved the way for Blanchard to score five runs and lead 6-1 in the bottom of the second.

Hilldale battled back to cut the deficit to 6-5 in the fourth. Shrum singled in two runs and Paige Boling’s single scored Emile Garcia for the big hits.

The Lady Hornets couldn’t get any closer.